According to Zenith, around 80% of all internet usage around the world comes from mobile devices. It reiterates the fact the mobile devices are taking over as the primary mode of accessing the internet. This is why businesses should start focusing on targeting all mobile device users to access your site. However, a typical mobile website alone is not sufficient for this. Instead, responsive web design will help get the job done.
Responsive web design allows a website to adapt to the size of the mobile device’s screen. The website will adjust to what the mobile device requires, instead of loading the whole page on desktop view. It gives the users a better experience that can affect their perception towards the business.
Most businesses are still not considering this innovation in their site. So, here’s five different reasons why responsive web design is essential for starting businesses.
Improved User Experience
By having a responsive web design, a business can improve their user’s experience on mobile devices. Instead of looking at the desktop version of the site on mobile, users of the site can enjoy a more accessible version of the website through their mobile devices.
More users will likely stay on the site because responsive web design is more attractive and more comfortable to use than the desktop version of the site. A good user experience can improve the business’ relationship with its audience and users, so it is of utmost importance to regard changing the site’s web design for a higher contentment of the users.
Lastly, by having a better user experience, it will also convert into lower bounce rates of the site, because it will keep the users engaged for the whole time they are on the website.
1&1’s infographic on mobile data traffic worldwide
Increase in Mobile Traffic
According to SearchEngineLand, 57% of all traffic on the internet is coming from mobile and tablet devices. This is not surprising, considering that many audiences would want to just use their mobile devices in accessing different websites because of its portability and ease of use. This fact should be a starting point for businesses to focus on making their website responsive for mobile devices users. This can also help websites increase their traffic significantly.
Users are also looking if the website is mobile ready. If the website is not entirely optimized for their mobile device, it affects their experience and can cause traffic exit. Also, website users will likely become a return traffic to the website if they had a good time using it.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Gains
Responsive web design will undoubtedly help the site’s search engine optimization rankings in the long run. Just recently, Google officially released mobile-first index algorithm changes to provide preferences in making mobile sites that are user-friendly. It was evident that many websites ranked down after the algorithm was released because most sites before were not giving regards in making their website mobile-friendly.
Google is focused on delivering the best results to their users, and if many of their users come from mobile devices, mobile-friendly websites are a priority to them.
Having a responsive web design is a must for Google. It is a very important ranking factor and all businesses are encouraged to implement it. If a business wants to boost their chances of getting to the top of the organic search, getting your website mobile-ready is a big help.
Easier to Manage
Integrating a responsive mobile web design to your site does not need intense efforts in maintaining and managing. It is also recommended by many experts that it is useful to create a responsive web design than to create a lot of different versions for different kinds of devices to give a better experience to the users.
Also, it can give less time to different developers of your site in building and managing the site. It is also relatively cheaper than all other ways of creating a better experience for mobile users. Once site costs a lot for a business, so why invest on another site if you can make your web design responsive. Another insight is that sites built for mobile only do not exhibit the navigational techniques by websites for the desktop. It is one advantage of having a responsive design for your website because instead of making your site easier to navigate for users, it will become inconvenient for many people.
Recommended by Google
Google recommends this innovation to all sites, especially to starting businesses establishing their brand on the internet. “Google supports smartphone-optimized sites in three configurations: Sites that use responsive web design, i.e. sites that serve all devices on the same set of URLs, with each URL serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device”, Google explained in their site.
One version of a website will hassle Google into crawling and indexing one site. Having a responsive web design can make Google’s work effortless and ensures a better user experience. Lastly, Google sees that whenever a company’s website is not using responsive web design, that site is wasting the available resources in making their lives better.
These different benefits can give different companies a rational mindset and perception that starting businesses should integrate a responsive mobile web design as soon as possible to maximize their results and provide a better experience to the users and audience.
About the Author
Kenneth Sytian is the CEO of Sytian Productions, one of the leading web design services in the Philippines. He has been designing websites and developing web apps for more than a decade. He is considered one of the top influencers in web design and development.
